GRANT=6546039;P01AG The role of the Animal Core is to provide, maintain, and analyze the animals required for the scientific projects detailed in this Program Project. This role will be accomplished through four specific aims. The goal of the first aim is to ensure that the animals will be carefully maintained through professional animal husbandry and caretaking. This is of enormous importance in the ABSL-3 facility in which mice will need to be maintained for long periods after infection. Aim 2 details the production of unique genetic resources for experimentation through the production of unique genetic resources for experimentation through the production and/or acquisition of transgenic animals. The animals will be screened for expression of the transgene before release to the Investigators. In addition, the Animal Core will maintain a fully documented database of the animals in the facility with notation of health status. The third aim is to establish the capacity for reliable infection of animals, normal or transgenic, with a variety of inocula from human and animal sources. The Core will have the responsibility of monitoring the health of the animals post-infection. In the Fourth aim, the Animal Core will provide characterized samples to the Investigators by running Western blots on the infected animals. The Animal Core will work in close coordination with the Tissue Core to ensure that all animals are fully characterized and that the prion typing is as accurate as possible. The animals produced in the Animal Core are unique and will provide a valuable resource to the entire prion research community.